Nebraska Postgame Notes / Quotes vs. Illinois

Nebraska post-game notes

• Bryce McGowens scored a double-digit point in the seventh consecutive game with a team record of 19 points. He went 6/7 off the line and is now in the last four games in the 18/19 charity series. McGowens has had a double-digit team record 13 times this season.
• Derrick Walker Jr. scored 14 points, his fifth consecutive game in a two-figure game. It corresponds to the longest part of his career (also 19.11.-1.12.). Walker added seven rebounds and helped limit Kofi Cockburn to just 16 points in the 8/18 Shot. It was only the second time this year that Cockburn’s shooting was less than 50 percent in the game. He had scored 20 or more goals in the last four games of Illinois.
• Alonzo Verge made his nearly double of the year with 14 points and nine assists. It was the fifth time he had given at least seven assists in a match. It was also his best score since Kennesaw State 16.
• Nebraska’s four assists were the lowest of the season. The Huskers started on Tuesday, leading the Big Ten wins.
• Nebraska went 6/12 from the three-point range, while 12 attempts were low for the season.
• Nebraska will drop 0-4 against teams ranked this season.

Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg

The last four minutes of the game

“Bryce hits two free throws in less than a four minute media timeout. They come out and get two offensive rebounds in their first possession and they have a good stop and we don’t hit. They hit their big guy and he goes in and gets two chances and opens the lead for them. We came down and I think it was a shot that was stopped. there were free throws and then we came down and didn’t implement the game called the free throw line.We had three guys in the right place and two didn’t.It’s obviously horrible not to execute and we had bad control.It felt like we had a good game and they would could not get us on the rim, maybe get us to the free throw line, and we didn’t do it.H e came down and struck a couple of three there at the end. I think we guarded three all night very well. When you play such a team with Kofin (Cockburn) and four shooters around him, you can’t take everything. It was decided to play mostly one by one on the pillar and we tried to dig in there when we could. I thought we made good mistakes there at the end to get him to the free throw line, but they hit the big ones at the end of the game when that was the most important thing. Our effort was phenomenal. I thought we fought with them to the end. It just has to do better in stretching. ”

Derrick Walker

– I thought he was fighting Kof (Cockburn) and getting him to work for everything he got. I thought Eduardo (Andre) also gave us good minutes there. I think the way back to the Ohio State match is when we really challenged our big ones to go one by one with the pillar and Derrick kept fighting all the way. Apparently you see what’s going on. His impact on the team. When he picked up his third mistake in the final game, then Rutgers went into the big run and took control of the game and had the full pace ahead of Half Time. Derrick has been a warrior. Did a good job playing with two mistakes. Could get one more throughout the game. Derrick is doing a little bit of everything for us right now. “

For limited three-point companies

“That’s what they do. They eliminate the triplets as well as any team in the country. They drop Kof (Cockburn) down into a restricted area and force you into the midfield. I thought we had a good midfield look, and I think we had forced midfield looks. We talked about it in the game plan. that they’re going to force you into those shots because they’ll stay home shooting and then they’ll drop Kof and their guards will do a good job of getting through the screens.For most of the time I thought we had a solid offensive game.I’d love a couple of controls back, but this is one of the best in the country from the defensive teams, and I thought we had some really good ones in our possession.

Nebraska freshman card Bryce McGowens
From what changed during the last four minutes of the game:

“I feel like we didn’t implement our games and didn’t repeat the offensive call (after Payne’s free throw). It’s a running game, and I feel like they had their last push at the end.

On the motion by Derrick Walker against Kofi Cockburn

“Derrick brought it. That’s exactly what Derrick does. He’s an energetic guy, and he’s one of the leaders in our team. Every night and day he comes to bring it. That’s why I personally love Derrick.

The key is to defend good big ones like Cockburn

“It’s teamwork. Since I’m a guard, I really don’t have to fight with them. Just give them as much help as we can. We didn’t do a good job of restoring his absence, and we’ll be working on it tomorrow.

Illinois head coach Brad Underwood
Opening remarks

“Really good team win tonight; this is a good Nebraska team. This is a game I was worried about for a long time when the schedule came out. They did exactly what I was afraid they would do. They’ve really had a hard time shooting basketball, and they’re making four by the first media timeout. Fred made these guys play firmly and together, and I think Derrick Walker’s defense was excellent. I think he’s one of the league’s best inside defenders. He went straight to Kofi early, apparently a huge night at offensive head 7-11. More importantly, when I think of this game, I think of Coleman Hawkins. He got a huge offensive ball, from which he got two at a critical moment. Then I will remember Omar Payne’s arrival party. I couldn’t be happier with a young man who has worked so hard and stayed with him, I believe he played seven or eight matches where he hadn’t scored goals but has continued to grind in practice. It was a huge evening when I held the bench for the best player in the country for the last four minutes, he was so good. Trent Frazier, he runs out of superlatives, he does what Trent does, 29 points, 38 minutes and only one round. He also does it at the other end by guarding his tail. We all know that Alonzo Verge is a talented child, and he makes everything better, but Trent’s work on him was huge and then apparently big hits. Overall, a great team win. I thought Luke Goode and Brandin Podziemski in the first half came in and gave us a spark in an evening where Plummer wasn’t his best and honestly Kofika wasn’t either, but I wanted to give him credit for that. “

Illinois slow start

“Maybe their energy, I think they hit us in transition. I thought we got a few good looks, but they have the third fastest reign in the country and they got moving in transition, we took a couple of bad shots and passed, and they got a couple of glances in transition, but you can expect that from home teams. “

From experience down

“It’s a great thing. I’ve been blessed with winning games in my career, and those guys are doing it. They have a special freshman, Bryce is special, but for the most part you don’t win big games with freshmen. You win with veterans who don’t panic and play right now, and we have a couple of them, and they will continue to do it for us. ”